


Cold

by Stormraven24



Series: Dangerous Liasons [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Animal Attack, Animal Death, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, UST, Unrequited Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-24
Updated: 2014-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-13 14:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1229578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormraven24/pseuds/Stormraven24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan and Asajj head to Orto Plutonia to investigate a new weapon being created by the Separatists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold

Two minutes and Asajj already hated the place. Orto Plutonia was little more than a desolate hunk of ice and rock to her. Who- or whatever lived there was either incredibly hardy or incredibly insane. “I thought this planet was already dealt with by Senator Chuchi,” she ground out against the cold. 

“That was when the Talz were first discovered to be living here.” Obi-Wan raised the hood of his coat and secured the fastening around his neck. “Now the Talz are asking for assistance in getting rid of a troublesome contingent of snowhounds.” 

“Are you serious?” If her irritation wasn't already nearing its peak it was now. “We're called away from a warzone to deal with natural predators?” 

“Oh, there's nothing natural at all about these hounds, my dear. Senator Chuchi says that they're genetically grown to be bigger, faster, stronger, and infinitely more vicious than any indigenous predator.” 

Asajj stopped in her tracks. “Wonderful.” She quickly started again when she nearly lost sight of him in the swirling snow; she had no desire to get lost. She pulled her coat tightly around her to try to block out the biting wind. “So we were sent to deal with these instead of, oh, I don't know, anyone else because...?” 

“Because Senator Chuchi asked for us by name.” 

“No, she asked for you and Skywalker. So why I'm here is beyond me.” 

“And here I thought you were beginning to enjoy my company, my sweet.” The urge to hit him upside the head came quicker than thought at those words. But a more hidden part of her couldn't deny it was true. “Anakin was called away by the Chancellor at the last minute. And I need someone to watch my back. Getting eaten by a Separatist-engineered snowhound isn't exactly how I'd like to die.” 

Asajj couldn't argue with that. Being eaten by anything wasn't on her list of preferable deaths either. They walked in silence for a while, each listening for any sounds out of the ordinary as they made their way to the Talz camp. Patches of snow in their path glistened in the dim sunlight, some shinier than others. “Watch out for the ice,” Obi-Wan cautioned. 

She bit back a snort. She wasn't blind. But it was still nice when he unconsciously took her hand and guided her over or around the slick places. Not that she would ever admit it aloud... 

The wind continued to howl around them as they proceeded. At one point it seemed to come from a fixed point behind them. Asajj stopped, jerking Obi-Wan back with her. “Asajj, what-” 

“Hush,” she hissed, her free hand raised to cover his mouth. Her head tilted to the side, listening. A new sound, one that raised the hairs on the backs of their necks, reached them through the wind and perpetual snowfall. Her head snapped around to stare at something behind them. Obi-Wan tried to follow her gaze, but could see nothing. “We should run,” she said suddenly. 

“I don't see anyth-” 

A huge, dark mass bursting from the snow cut him off mid-sentence. They dove away from each other as it crashed down on where they had been standing not two seconds before. Asajj caught a glimpse of brindled fur, dark grey with spots and stripes of lighter grey and white, just before it landed on top of her. The weight of the hound forced the air from her lungs and pinned her arms against her chest when she instinctively crossed them to protect her torso. Saliva dripped onto her face from two rows of serrated teeth contained in a long muzzle. It snapped at her, missing her nose by mere centimeters before she managed to get her feet under its belly. Calling the Force into her legs she kicked it from her just long enough to find her lightsabers at her belt. “Could use a little help, Kenobi!” she shouted. 

“I've got problems of my own!” he replied. He was keeping a second hound at bay with the Force, his lightsaber nowhere to be found. 

Asajj would have rolled her eyes if she'd had the time. As it was, her hound rushed her again and again. Its attack was unusual: reaching first with its massive paws and equally enormous claws instead of leading with its teeth like most canine species. Asajj slashed at its legs as it lunged. Singed hair was all the damage she did. “What in space-” 

Her shock distracted her long enough for the creature to land a hit. Its claws dug into the thick material of her coat and pulled. It had just barely missed her flesh, but now she was exposed to the freezing atmosphere with nothing but her thin clothing for protection. She ignored it, putting all of her focus on the monstrosity that seemed driven by only one thought: _kill._

The flash of her sabers threw it off-balance for a moment. She tried aiming directly for its eyes but it was too fast. Her blades seemed almost useless as they glanced off its hide. _This is getting ridiculous,_ she thought. She was beginning to tire, her arms starting to burn with the exertion. Then the beast made a mistake: it reared up on its hind legs to roar its own frustration with such a difficult meal. The moment her blades pierced the soft flesh of its belly it went silent. Her momentum drove it back until it fell to the snow with her lightsabers still buried to their hilts. 

Asajj had to take a moment to fully comprehend what had happened, then looked to see how Kenobi was faring. He'd found his lightsaber, but his hound was staying low to the ground so he couldn't get in a killing blow. She ran to him, grabbing her weapons on her way, and lashed at the beast. “That doesn't work, darling,” he called over the growls and snarls and wind. 

“I'm aware of that! I'll go high, you go low.” 

“What?” 

“Aim for its gut!” she yelled in exasperation. 

Once he understood her plan the fight was over in seconds. The creature flopped to the frozen ground for the final time and stayed there. “Well, that was fun,” he said with a smile, trying to catch his breath. Asajj wasn't so quick to let her guard down. She kept her blades activated and turned in quick circles to see if any other nasty surprises lay in wait in the blizzard. “Where's your coat?” 

“I didn't like the color.” She didn't mean for her voice to sound so clipped, but the attack had put her on edge. Her heightened senses gave her only the briefest of warnings before a third hound that had stayed hidden made its move. She screamed as its jaws closed around her arm and its teeth sank into her unprotected flesh. Dark blood streamed from the wound, which was made even worse when it released her with a scream of its own. Obi-Wan's blade had cleaved its belly in two to let its intestines steam in the frigid air. 

“Asajj!” With the threat eliminated, he turned to his companion with wide eyes. “Are you alright?” 

She clutched at the jagged remains of her forearm. It hurt to even hold on to her lightsaber. “Never better,” she said through clenched teeth. She knew the cold would help stop the bleeding soon, but that did her little good against the pain. It felt like she'd been hit by superaccelerated shrapnel. The snowhound's serrated teeth were no joke. 

She bit back another scream when Obi-Wan took her arm, as gently as he could, and inspected the damage. “I don't have any medical supplies with me,” he said regretfully. “They're all back on the ship.” 

Asajj took a deep breath to steady herself and try to make her eyes stop tainting everything with black spots. “Hold these.” She handed her lightsabers to Obi-Wan, who took them with a confused look, then tore off a strip of cloth from her shirt. The move caused a fresh wave of pain to shoot through the entire right side of her body as well as exposed even more skin to the cold. 

“Asajj-” 

“Take this,” she interrupted. They didn't have time for him to fret over trivial things like that. “And wrap it around my arm.” 

He did as she said, his handsome face contorted with worry and guilt all the while. “I should have been paying attention,” she heard him mumble. Apparently he hadn't meant for her to hear it, so she stayed quiet (it was also all she could to not cry out when the cloth touched her raw flesh). “We don't know what else that creature's bite might have contained,” he said louder a moment later. “An infection could set in if this isn't properly treated quickly...or something worse.” 

Asajj gave him a look. He was always concerned whenever his comrades were injured, but lately he had seemed to take special interest in her well-being. When she'd shown up to a briefing three weeks earlier with a new plasma burn on her shoulder, he'd kept sneaking glances at her with the same look on his face that he wore now. She'd confronted him about it afterward, to which he'd simply said, “That looks like it hurts.” She had been so taken aback by the simplicity of his words, along with the slight coloring of his face and neck, that she hadn't been able to form a reply. The usual concern she had gotten from Dooku over a new injury was indifference, patronization, or punishment for allowing herself to be harmed in the first place. The shift from Dark Acolyte to Jedi ally had been jarring in more ways than one, especially when Kenobi was involved. 

Obi-Wan carefully tied off the makeshift bandage but didn't release her arm. His gloved fingers lightly held hers as he observed his work, making sure he'd covered the worst of the wound. She quickly took her hand back. She wasn't used to such caring scrutiny, especially from someone who had once been her most bitter enemy. It made her...uncomfortable. “Don't worry about it. If I become rabid, just throw me out in the snow. The cold will kill me faster than any disease.” 

She noted his stricken expression. “Don't say that, Asajj.” The words were so soft she almost didn't hear them. But she did, along with his horrified tone. “Oh, do forgive me.” He quickly pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her trembling shoulders, mindful of her injured arm. “And before you protest, my dear, I'd like to point out that I've got considerably more coverage than you. So don't even think of trying to return my coat.” 

She wanted to return his smile, but found herself too surprised by the gesture. She really shouldn't have been; Kenobi had a heart much too big for his own good. She was sure it was going to get him killed one day. “Let's just find this camp and get this over with so we can get back to warmer climates.” 

Asajj focused on putting one foot in front of the other to try to put the pain in her arm aside. The only outward sign she showed of the agony she actually felt was how she cradled the limb against her stomach. She'd be damned twice over before expressing her weakness in front of Obi-Wan. She felt his eyes on her, the hand he held near her back in case she stumbled. Did he think a bite to the arm would impede her ability to walk? She would have groaned in irritation if she wasn't positive he would interpret it as something else. 

The Talz camp suddenly came into view as the snowfall lessened. The wind began to die down as well. But the cold seemed only to deepen. “The storm is letting up,” she observed. “So why is it getting colder?” And why was her vision going out-of-kilter again? 

The last thing she remembered seeing was Obi-Wan's startled face against the grey sky. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear. Strange... 

* * *

_Shadow. Darkness. Grief. Pain. Rage.  
_

_Her parents' butchered bodies lay at her feet.  
_

_Ky Narec closed his eyes for the last time.  
_

_The Nightsisters massacred.  
_

_Dooku proclaimed her to be past her use.  
_

_No. No, these memories had no right. No right to resurface. She had locked them away when she had changed sides. They were too painful. They were too raw.  
_

_She pushed them away like a blaster threatening to explode in her hands. She wanted emptiness. That she could handle. That she could deal with. She could hide in nothingness for the rest of her life.  
_

_But_ he _wouldn't let her. His face appeared again and again. Every time he was looking at her with kindness. Or a smile. Or a teasing smirk. Or some expression she couldn't (wouldn't) identify. But always with kindness.  
_

_She tried to turn away. She didn't deserve it. Why did he insist on giving her something she had done nothing to earn?  
_

_“Come back to the Light, Asajj,” he said gently. He'd said it to her before, but now his voice sounded very close. “Come back to me.”  
_

_Funny. He'd never said_ that _before...  
_

The numbness was what she felt first when she opened her eyes. Her arm didn't hurt anymore, but it did pound in time with her pulse. She felt as if her body were suddenly made from heavy stone instead of flesh and bone. She wasn’t cold anymore, though. That was a plus. A heavy fur had been laid across her. 

A deep breath. Another. She went to raise her unharmed hand to her head to try to stop its pounding but found it immobile. A flash of panic shot through her as she thought it might have rendered useless as well. What she found when she looked down to it was even more shocking than if it had been missing entirely. 

Obi-Wan had curled himself around her at some point while she was unconscious. He was now fast asleep beside her, one of his arms across her waist and his torso pinning her arm to her side. Without even thinking she shoved him away with the Force and tried to push herself in the opposite direction. She stopped and cried out when she put weight on her injured arm. 

Obi-Wan was right there when she collapsed back to the floor. _Floor?_ “Asajj, calm down,” he said. “Easy.” She flinched when his hand touched her shoulder; she still wasn't entirely awake and all she could feel was the pain and torment another's touch had always inflicted in her. She didn't see the look of hurt in his eyes when she shook his hand away. “Just breathe, Asajj. Breathe.” 

When she had calmed her rapid heartbeat and panicked mind, she took stock of her surroundings. Pale grey walls, a hard floor covered with various furs, no furniture to speak of, a small fire burning lazily in the center of the room. And Obi-Wan still crouched at her side. “Where are we?” Her voice sounded strange to her ears. 

“The Talz camp. You passed out just as we came upon it.” 

“What?” 

He looked away. Was that guilt in his eyes...again? “I knew I should have brought a medkit from the ship with us. That snowhound's bite was viral. If we hadn't made it to the camp when we did...” 

Asajj couldn't stop looking at him. She'd never seen him look so...”lost” wasn't the word, but... 

It hit her: frightened. Obi-Wan Kenobi was frightened. The revelation was so surreal she almost gasped. 

She changed the subject instead. “How long was I out?” 

“A few hours. The healers tended to your arm while you slept. They say you should be fully recovered in a couple of weeks.” He gave her a wan smile, then went to the fire to stoke it back to life. “Amazing skills these people have in the healing arts.” 

That still didn't explain why he had been lying beside her the way he was. But the real question was if she was brave enough to ask. Thankfully, she was spared from making that decision when a large furry head with two sets of eyes poked through the doorway. A gurgle of sounds came from its throat, none of which Asajj could recognize as words. “Thank you,” Obi-Wan said. “We'll be there presently.” 

“How do you do that?” 

“What?” 

“Understand everyone and everything without ever knowing the language.” She had to admit she was a little jealous of that ability. 

One side of his mouth turned up in a smug grin. “When one clears one's mind of all prejudices and preconceptions, communication becomes that much easier.” He walked over to her and extended a hand. “Do you think you can stand?” 

She fixed him with a hard stare, but took the offered hand anyway. “If I couldn't, one: I wouldn't tell you, and two: what would you do? Carry me?” 

He put his other hand on her elbow to steady her when she stood, taking a moment to get her bearings. “Why not? I did when you passed out.” 

* * *

Asajj and Obi-Wan followed the Talz chieftain over the snowdrift, Asajj wrapped in a thick fur given to her by Thi-Sen himself. Down in the slight valley below rose a miniature city. One swarming with battle droids. All three stayed on their bellies to avoid detection, a pair of electrobinoculars passing between the offworlders. “See anything familiar, my dear?” 

“You mean aside from the same idiotic droids that wouldn't know a blaster from a fish stick?” She heard him stifle a laugh and had to suppress one of her own; she had come to like his laugh. “No, nothing familiar.” 

Obi-Wan turned to the Talz chief. “Thi-Sen, do you know where these snowhounds come out from this facility?” Thi-Sen pointed to the western end of the cluster of buildings just as a pair of individual transports disappeared into a hidden hatch that sank into the snow and ice to allow them entry, then closed behind them. “Then that's where we're headed. We'll take it from here, my friend. There's no need to keep you from your people any longer.” The Talz loosed a series of clicks and low whistles that sounded agitated even to Asajj's ears. “Alright. Have it your way.” He turned his eyes to Asajj, a glint in them that she'd seen before dozens of fights. “Shall we?” 

She smirked back. “Lead the way, my darling.” 

* * *

Despite her injury, Asajj held her own against the droids that tried to cut her down. She was suddenly very grateful for Master Unduli's suggestions for single-handed combat. She still didn't like fighting with only one lightsaber, but with one arm out of commission she didn't have much of a choice. Thi-Sen led the way once they entered the facility, sweeping droids and humanoids alike aside with wide sweeps of his mighty arms, while Obi-Wan searched security maps for where the snowhounds were being created. 

Asajj was almost disappointed when they cleared the room of droids. She'd always enjoyed the thrill of combat, the excitement when her enemy fell while she stood standing. Even if her opponents this time around were dimwitted battle droids. “Any luck?” 

“I think so,” Obi-Wan said. He pointed to an area near the bottom left corner of the map. “This area here is just listed as 'The Pen'. Sounds like where we need to be, yes?” 

“Better there than here.” In truth, she just wanted this whole thing done and get off-planet. 

The three of them picked their way through the debris of droid parts and descended into the lower level. Even if they didn't know the floorplan, all they needed to do to find the Pen was follow the sounds. Howls, growls, yips, snarls. An animalistic cacophony of noise grew louder and louder the further they went. The sight that met them at the door was even more ghastly than the sounds. 

Over a dozen full-grown snowhounds stood in containment fields. Some were unattended, but others were being prodded, injected, or otherwise tortured by droids and so-called scientists. In a separate corner were several pups. “By the stars,” Obi-Wan whispered in horror. Asajj couldn't blame him. Even she felt bad for the creatures, especially the young ones. They never asked for this. They didn't deserve to be tortured and mutilated and twisted into weapons for Dooku and Sidious. She couldn't help but feel a kind of kinship to them. 

“This has to stop,” she said softly. 

Obi-Wan looked at her, a strange look, and nodded. “Here's what we'll do-” 

Thi-Sen didn't seem to think much of planning. He charged in and began destroying anything and everything he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, that meant some of the containment fields around the adult snowhounds were deactivated in his wake. 

The freed beasts launched themselves at anything that moved, doing just as much damage to their captors as Thi-Sen. One hound noticed Asajj and Obi-Wan in the doorway and leapt for them. Blue plasma sprang into life and sank easily into the soft belly. They jumped into the fray together, blades humming and flashing in harmony. Asajj had never been one to pity her enemy, but these creatures... 

She cleared her mind of such thoughts. They would do nothing but distract her. She reminded herself that these snowhounds were bred for one purpose: to kill. There was no loyalty, no conscience, nothing but the drive to bite and tear and maim. She was breathing hard by the time Obi-Wan put down the last one. She surveyed the damage they'd done with grim satisfaction. The hardest part was done. 

A chorus of high-pitched howls and whines broke through the brief silence. Oh no. The hardest part was yet to come. She stepped toward the enclosure where the five pups remained. Her heart clenched as she looked at them. They looked back with half-crazed eyes, all of them baring serrated teeth at her. Despite their ferocity and the knowledge of what they would grow into, they were still so young. They were just babies... 

“Asajj.” Obi-Wan put a gentle hand on her uninjured arm. She turned baleful eyes to him and saw that his own expression mirrored hers. Helplessness, horror, sadness, resignation. “We have to-” 

“I know.” She didn't think she could handle the words being said aloud. 

“We can't help-” 

“I KNOW.” Why couldn't he ever just shut up? She raised her left hand and waved it over the pen. Five sets of bright gold eyes closed, two of the pups yawning before curling around each other to sleep. She felt Obi-Wan looking at her but she didn't dare meet his gaze. “On three,” she whispered. 

“One...” Red and blue blades came to life again. 

“Two...” Her hand faltered as she raised it. Why was she so hesitant to kill now, after every atrocity and sinful thing she'd done in her life? 

She felt Obi-Wan's fingers touch her chin and turn her head towards him. A tear fell down his cheek to disappear into his beard. His thumb brushed over the line of her jaw. “Three.” 

* * *

Asajj hadn't spoken since they'd returned to their ship. On paper, their mission had been a success. The snowhounds were no longer a threat, the Talz were safe once more, the Separatist facility destroyed (thanks to some simple rewiring of the heating system), and relations between Orto Plutonia and Pantora remained strong thanks to Senator Chuchi's compassion for the Talz. 

But she didn't feel like celebrating. The necessity of killing the young snowhounds was only made slightly bearable by the fact that she had put them to sleep with the Force first. They hadn't felt any pain. Not that that made her feel any better. 

“Are you alright, darling?” Obi-Wan asked suddenly. “You haven't said a word since we left the planet.” 

The sound of his voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “I haven't felt like talking,” she said simply. 

Apparently that wasn't good enough for him. “Asajj, what we did...it was for the best. Those pups wouldn't have had any kind of future worth living. Hopefully what we did here today will make Dooku think twice about expanding the project to other planets.” 

“I know. It doesn't make it any easier.” She still hadn't looked at him. Her left hand rubbed her right bicep, a nervous trait she had picked up since becoming an ally rather than an enemy of the Jedi. “I saw myself in them, if you must know the truth. Those hounds weren't given any choice in what they became. It's not a perfect analogy; I had plenty of chances to make my own choices rather than follow orders. But when you're born and raised in a hostile environment with no choice but to kill to survive, that becomes second nature to you. Killing others becomes a part of life rather than a sin. I was once a living tool to Dooku like those hounds. The only difference is that they were never given a chance to become something else.” 

Obi-Wan was silent for a long time. She knew her honesty had shocked him (her as well), but she had found it easier to talk about such things with him. But only him; she'd not even been able to speak about her past or show her resurfacing compassion to Master Yoda. It was most unnerving. 

Finally, he spoke, his voice soft and low. “Oh, Asajj. I don't know what to say.” 

“Then don’t say anything. We did what was necessary, deplorable as it was, end of story.” Obi-Wan continued looking at her, obviously wanting to say something to put her mind at ease. _Fat chance._ She sighed heavily. “I’ll get over it, Kenobi. It’ll just take time.” 

He nodded once and turned back to the console. Several more minutes passed in silence. Trying to put the pups out of her mind had brought up another subject, one that she had been reluctant to address. “I’m sorry for earlier.” 

“For what?” 

“For pushing you back in the Talz hut. I don’t like waking up with someone lying on my one good arm.” 

“Oh, that. Yes, well…” What was this? The Great Negotiator stumbling over his words? “That-That was my fault, I suppose.” 

Asajj gave him a look. “Why _were_ you lying beside me in the first place?” 

She noticed how he was looking at anything but her. And was that a blush creeping his neck? “Well, it seemed that the virus in the snowhound’s saliva was engineered to drop the core body temperature of whatever it bit. Quite ingenious, actually. That way if the hound didn’t kill its victim outright the virus would.” He almost turned to her, then seemed to think better of it. “It was the first thing I could think of to raise your temperature before you went into shock.” 

Asajj tilted her head at him. “So it never crossed your mind to use any of the furs in that place?” She almost smiled at his expression when she said that. _Apparently not_. She decided to spare him any further discomfort, as much amusement as she got out of it. “Anyway, thanks for the save. I consider it payment for saving your life from those hounds.” 

He laughed, a light sound tinged with mild embarrassment. She found she liked that sound. “Then we’re even, my dear.” 

The trip back to Coruscant went on in comfortable quiet. But Asajj still couldn’t help thinking about the hut. Looking back on it, she decided it was actually pretty nice to wake up next to him like that. Well, not with her life on the line, but still. She wondered if it would ever happen again…

**Author's Note:**

> Yeeeeeah, this was originally just supposed to be about Asajj being cold and Obi-Wan giving her his coat and then it turned into this. I feel terrible for what happened with the pups, but the longer I wrote the more it just seemed to fit.


End file.
